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Cumbrian man jailed over threats to ex-girlfriend

A man who threatened his former girlfriend after she went to a party without him has been jailed for 18 months.

Kieron Routledge, 20, had been banned by a court restraining order from having anything to do with Vicky Hanning after their relationship came to a stormy end.

But, Carlisle Crown Court heard, he found it difficult to come to terms with that, especially when after nearly two years she moved into the house two doors away from his in Highmoor, Wigton.

So when she went to a party at the White Heather Hotel in Kirkbride on January 18 he was waiting to welcome her back.

Ms Hanning was not worried about walking past his house because she thought that at 4am he would be asleep, but she was shocked to find him sitting on his doorstep, prosecutor Gerard Rogerson told the court.

He shouted at her and demanded to know where she had been, and as she walked on to her own home she felt “some object flying past her face”, Mr Rogerson said.

A few hours later Routledge went to Ms Hanning’s front door, shouting through the letterbox asking her where she had been and telling her “Don’t make me mad” through gritted teeth, the court heard.

Ms Hanning went outside to reason with him, but he lunged at her, and took hold of her dressing gown so tightly it hurt her neck.

He told her: “You should be scared of me. I will be here when you come home. See what will happen to your house and you will be in it.”

Routledge, who admitted common assault and breaching a restraining order, slapped her on the back of the head, as if to emphasise his point.

In mitigation his solicitor Chris Toms said Routledge had been confused by the state of his relationship with Ms Hanning.

Routledge was jailed for a total of 18 months – including 12 months of a sentence which had previously been suspended.